CBob–it may be a matter of acceptable risk, and costs and benefits across time. Personally, I would prefer not to find out about the latest version of thalidomide (for example) by having ten thousand babies born without arms and then the company goes out of business eventually after fighting it out in court for ten more years. What government can provide is some rigor in preventing problems that are bound to happen without adult supervision. Hence the success of things like the USDA (until the Republicans cut it), the Clean Air and Water Acts (ditto), the FDA, and, let’s not forget, the Interstate Highway system, which transformed the country but was built for defense purposes – a project clearly too large for the individual taxpayer or the state. I realize this is the classic liberal position that government has its uses, but i think the case is pretty strong.
CBob–it may be a matter of acceptable risk, and costs and benefits across time. Personally, I would prefer not to find out about the latest version of thalidomide (for example) by having ten thousand babies born without arms and then the company goes out of business eventually after fighting it out in court for ten more years. What government can provide is some rigor in preventing problems that are bound to happen without adult supervision. Hence the success of things like the USDA (until the Republicans cut it), the Clean Air and Water Acts (ditto), the FDA, and, let’s not forget, the Interstate Highway system, which transformed the country but was built for defense purposes – a project clearly too large for the individual taxpayer or the state. I realize this is the classic liberal position that government has its uses, but i think the case is pretty strong.